EU needs tiered drug pricing to improve patient access, Bayer exec says
Send a link to a friend
[May 06, 2023]
By Michael Erman and Maggie Fick
BOSTON/LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union should put mechanisms in
place to allow drugmakers to charge higher prices in wealthy European
countries and lower prices in poorer nations to assure more equitable
patient access to life saving medicines, Bayer's global pharmaceuticals
head said in an interview.
That might be accomplished in part by restricting drug importation
within the EU, Stefan Oelrich, head of Bayer's pharmaceuticals unit,
told Reuters on Thursday.
The EU published a long-awaited draft of its proposed overhaul of laws
governing its pharmaceuticals industry last month. One of the main goals
of the reforms would be more equitable access between wealthier and
poorer EU states.
Oelrich said the proposed laws would stifle innovation and reduce access
to drugs in Europe, echoing pharmaceutical industry views.
"We have made clear proposals to the Commission how we could mend the
access issues, for example, through tiered pricing opportunities inside
the European Union," Oelrich said ahead of a Bayer event to launch a new
research lab in Boston.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/May/06/images/ads/current/graue_sda_042021.png)
EU prices are already set on a national level. The EU single market
allows for the movement of goods and services.
"The trick today is if you do this just like that, then all of the
product that you would ship to Lithuania at a discounted price would go
immediately back to France because there's free circulation of goods. So
then there would need to be a mechanism to actually make that
manageable," he said.
An EU source expressed doubts about whether tiered pricing schemes like
the one proposed by Oelrich could solve the access problems the
Commission's pharmaceutical legislation seeks to address.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/050623PIX/health27.jpg)
The logo of Bayer is pictured at the
company's plant in Lerma, Mexico November 10, 2022. REUTERS/Henry
Romero/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/May/06/images/ads/current/businessdirectory_dailycover_2023.png) There would be no certainty
companies would go to smaller or poorer EU countries as they do not
have a profit incentive to prioritize them, the EU source said.
Even if they do go (to poorer countries), they are unlikely to do so
in a timely manner, since they will prioritize more lucrative sales
in the larger and wealthier member states, the EU source added.
Bayer's new CEO, former Roche pharmaceutical head Bill Anderson,
starts at the company next month.
The company is working to expand its pharmaceuticals business in the
United States, and has stepped up spending on research and
development there despite a new U.S. law that will allow the
government to negotiate prices on some drugs for patients in its
Medicare health program.
"If I compare the conditions between the U.S. and Europe in terms of
drug pricing, they're still more favorable in the U.S. than they are
in Europe," Oelrich said.
(Reporting by Michael Erman in Boston and Maggie Fick in London;
Editing by Bill Berkrot)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/May/06/images/ads/current/culligan_sda_SFARM_2023.png) |